"As far as concerns the empresses, it is a long time since they have ceased to apply themselves to the manufacture of silk; one sees, nevertheless, in the precincts of the imperial palace, a large space covered with houses, the road leading to which is still called the road which leads to the place destined for the rearing of silkworms, for the amusement of the empresses and queens. In the books of the philosopher Mencius, is a wise police rule, made under the first reigns, which determines the space destined for the cultivation of mulberry trees, according to the extent of the land possessed by each private individual." M. Stanislas Julien[51] tells us of many regulations made by the Emperor of China, to render obligatory the care and attention requisite to rearing silk. [51] "Résumé des principaux Traités Chinois sur la Culture des Mûriers et l'Education des Vers à Soie, traduit par Stanislas Julien." Paris, imprimerie royale, 1837. Tchin-iu, being governor of the district of Kien-Si, ordered that every man should plant fifty feet of land with mulberry trees.[52] The Emperor (under the dynasty of Witei) gave to each man twenty acres of land on condition that he planted fifty feet with mulberry trees.[53] Hien-tsang (who ascended the throne in 806) ordered that the inhabitants of the country should plant two feet in every acre with mulberry trees.[54] The first Emperor of the dynasty of Song (who began to reign about the year 960) published a decree forbidding his subjects to cut down the mulberry trees.[55] [52] "Annales de la Dynastie des Liang." [53] "Annales de la Dynastie des Wei." [54] "Annales de la Dynastie des Thang." [55] "Histoire de la Dynastie des Song." [Illustration: V. The Empress Si-ling-chi gathering Mulberry Leaves.] By all these means, according to the testimony of M. Stanislas Julien, the business of the fabrication of silk became general in China. This great empire soon furnished its neighbours with this precious textile material, and created for its own profit a very important branch of commerce.